Ideas for a downtown transformation will get a hearing Wednesday during the Reno City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting. The council will vote on approving a new consultant to help develop project ideas.
City staff said they were directed to present ideas for the first of three phases of the Gehl Studios placemaking study, “to include management and coordination of design, landscape, survey and specialty design.”
City officials are focusing on changes to Virginia Street, while a Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) study about downtown is still ongoing and survey results have yet to be reported.
“Virginia Street is the backbone of the downtown neighborhood. [It] is a safe and inviting place to walk or spend time for Renoites and visitors alike,” city staff claim in their presentation.
Phase one ideas include a “streetscape furnishing zone” and “facade improvements,” wherein the city will pay 50% to applicants for changes to building exteriors and up to $50,000 for interior improvements.
“The program provides matching grants to both property owners and business tenants for facade improvements and interior upgrades,” staff said.
The ROW casinos are proposed to have a “placita” (plaza) at Virginia Street at the Downtown Ballroom – their own property.
That includes an “agreement with the ROW and [Downtown Reno Partnership], [to] consider using this as a pilot for a partnership program for activation of privately owned public space.”
“Seating elements, moveable by forklift,” are included so the ROW can continue to use the property for special events.
Downtown Reno at one time had more seating, however 68 benches were removed in 2016. City officials at the time said the benches were removed to reduce panhandling and sleeping by those who don’t have a place to live.
The benches were replaced with rocks and ironwork, what is known as hostile architecture.
Reno councilmember Naomi Duerr raised these concerns in April. She said that the city will have to be prepared for individuals experiencing homelessness to use the “activated” spaces.
“At one point we had more benches, and benches were removed or rocks were put in place to prevent random people from sitting down,” she said. “And when you prevent people with no homes from sitting down, you prevent everyone from sitting down.
“[More benches] have this unintended consequence … how are you going to get the quote, right people sitting down, shopping, with money in their pocket, versus people who have no homes that might like to rest there or even sleep there.”
Changes to Locomotion Plaza and more murals are also proposed. The Plaza – a concrete pad above the train trench near third street – is proposed to get furniture, a stage and lighting.
Another consultant will be hired.
City staff said phase-one changes will require “a consultant agreement for Urban Design services…” Council-approved COVID-19 relief funds will be used for a new consultant. The city expects to spend up to $365,000 with construction anticipated to begin next year.
Ky Plaskon with the Truckee Meadows Bicycle Alliance said the city should emphasize public safety first before implementing these changes.
“We have been yelled at by a council member, talked over by city staff and degraded both in public and behind the scenes by staff in emails for our advocacy for public safety,” he told This Is Reno. “This is not how a bike friendly city acts.”
